China

Over spring break this year, I was able to go to China with some high school students for a 'cultural service trip' (what we have to call it when going into a closed country). I have to admit, I was quite nervous about the whole thing. Our purpose for going was to teach conversational English classes to university students. We used volleyball, card playing, and Bhangra dancing (traditional northern Indian style of dancing - it is very lively and fun!) as our subjects for teaching. We were to teach two classes a day for four days. Each class had about 50 students and lasted for about an hour. Let me back up a bit from the beginning of the trip.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon. We got settled into our hotel, ate dinner, and then did a little bit of shopping and exploring. I even got to go to the Wal-mart in China! (Not the same at ALL by the way). During this first night, I made sure I bought a jacket. This city we went into, Kunming, in the province of Yunnan, is known as the city of eternal spring. So coming from Singapore, I was quite cold! I really didn't have much by way of warm clothes to bring with me from Singapore. When the sun was out, it was warm, even hot sometimes, but if the sun went away, the wind was chilly!

On our first full day (Easter Sunday actually), we visited a place called the Stone Forest. It was this really cool park with these amazing rock formations. I took a lot of pictures of them because I thought they were really cool, but also because I was trying to soak in all the open space that doesn't exist in Singapore. I'll try to keep the number of pictures I show you here to a minimum!

The picture of me eating with chopsticks is real! This is at lunch before we walked around the Stone Forest.

The rock behind me says Stone Forest in Chinese.

And in case you are wondering, this is the jacket I bought at a store near Wal-mart. Our leader bargained the price down for me. I'm wearing layers and layers here to keep warm! Later on, you can see that the sun came out, so I was able to shed some layers. :)

The school where I teach, International Community School, is a part of the organization NICS (Network of International Christian Schools). We have a sister school in Kunming. Before we left, we were able to visit the campus and meet the principal and some of the staff. I saw people I had befriended at the NICS training the summer before. There is also a family that used to be at ICS Singapore that moved to Kunming to work at KIA and we were able to visit with them at their home. This is a picture of their kids. Do you think they might stand out a bit in China? :)

We stayed across the street from the university where we worked. That made it easy to get back and forth without having to take a cab and not being able to communicate.

That night before we started our first class, our leader shared what God had laid on her heart for this trip from the book of John. She said it was that He might increase, and that we might decrease. This was one of the biggest lessons I learned about myself on this trip. I am constantly doing things on my own, with my power. And I am tired! When I got out of the way and allowed God to work through me, the work was easy and I was actually very full of energy. I found out about 20 minutes before our first class that I was going to be giving the lecture. I was like, uh, alright. We had put together a powerpoint with some of the key phrases and words needed to play volleyball, so the information was prepared. When the class started, I felt calm and confident. Even though there were 50 faces staring at me, my face did not get red and there were no butterflies in my stomach. For me, that is a miracle! This was another example of how God has stretched me way out of my comfort zone and given me everything I needed to be successful. We were working with a group that is on campus as an outreach to the students. We used the time in class to invite our students to an Easter party we were having on Tuesday and Thursday nights. We played some "Easter" games with them using the theme of eggs. We dyed eggs, had an egg hunt, and then we used the Resurrection eggs as an introduction to the story of Christ's death and resurrection. We were able to share so freely because this was part of our culture. After the reinactment, we got into small groups to discuss. We asked them questions and gave them opportunities to ask us questions. It was an amazing experience! I did not dream we would be able to share so freely. I was able to talk about how God has changed my life, but I couldn't ask if they wanted to accept Christ. That is the job of the people who work on campus full time. Our job was to plant seeds only. To do any more could jeopordize their work. The first night, we had about 120 students: the team was expecting about 60. The second night we had well over 200. People were standing everywhere; some came and saw how crowded it was and left. We had tried to get a bigger room, but the beauracracy at the university was difficult to work with and around. I had the opportunity to talk with two of the teachers of the classes I took over for. They were asking some very tough questions (like Americans are so advanced in science and technology - how does that fit in with their faith?). I silently prayed for some wisdom to respond to her questions. I can honestly say that the words that came out of my mouth were not inspired by my brain or knowledge. The Spirit answered my prayer and the questions. It was something I'll never forget.

Here is a picture of the room full of students on the first night.

If I have another opportunity to work or visit in China again, I would definitely want to go. The people there were so welcoming and respectful. The students always responded to my questions with a yes or no. I was surprised by how openly we were able to share our faith and at how many shops run by believers existed there. China is certainly a country that needs a lot of prayer, but there is hope and progress in the Good News spreading.

If you'd like to see more pictures, click here to see my Picasa web album.